13x666

PTSD Fishing by KuKuRammus 2021-10-05T20:33:13Z

I really love this theme connection. U n s t a b l e . . .

Sound adds so much to this experience. The heartbeat and the shots in the background and the panic of trying to reel in the fish while the time is running out. At first I felt that waiting for the fish to bite was a little too boring, but after I caught a few I realized that the wait is actually your chance to relax while you're listening to the birds before the next PTSD episode. This game is deep, it's an experience, it's the stuff.

Unstable Concoction by theviraldragon 2021-10-05T21:05:10Z

Ahh, a new take on the Alchemy mechanic, finding the recipes is fun! And I love the way stirring the brew is turned into its own mini-game — it's like potion making in Harry Potter where apparently the precise way you stir the potion matters. I'd really like this to have more mini-games like this, and maybe the mini-games themselves to be a bit faster. This way brewing a potion would feel even more like this advanced diverse task, and you'd feel getting more proficient at it as you learn and experiment. A potential future full-featured version of this game is what my perfect potion-making game looks like!

You won't believe your result from this personality test! by allthebees 2021-10-05T21:15:01Z

Doorknob.

Cro-Mathnon by PeachTreeOath 2021-10-07T19:31:34Z

It was more fun than I expected! I couldn't stop and was trying to get a really high number before surrendering, but I kept messing up. The game really has that “one more time” thing going on.

Would have really loved to hear *any* music or sound effects, without them the experience was just incomplete, and it's the easiest way to make the game even better.

Islands of Chess by frozenfire92 2021-10-05T19:37:05Z

Ahh, always love a new chess variant! This is a cool way to add a dimension to chess, I love the possibilities this introduces for further things to add to the rules. Also, playing chess in space is quite enjoyable! :)

The Curse of the Un-stable by dikkop 2021-10-11T21:19:47Z

I really-really like this one!

I think controlling it with keyboard could be much more convenient and more fun, just tap arrow keys to overwrite your moves in a loop and then press space to confirm.

Maybe more variety in what's happening on the playing field: power-ups, special abilities like double moves or attacks in different patterns, etc. — this game has a lot of potential for expanding.

Perhaps there could be an enemy who sometimes makes unpredictable movements to make the game even more unstable? This should be compensated with more hit points or a way to heal, perhaps.

Great entry, great idea, great cinematic feel, and is that procedural noise-based ground? Awesome!

Instability by R3L0ad1 2021-10-10T14:21:27Z

Ahh, Thomas Was ~~Alone~~ Unstable!

Everything this game has is great. You even fixed the slow restart issue. This has style, pace, nice visuals and sound, it's challenging but fair, *and* it's infinite, it even has a tutorial, nothing to complain about!

I think that what would improve this game and take it to the next level would be some sense of diversity and progression: perhaps, the further you get, the more mechanics you unlock along the way — ropes might start at 30m, falling ropes at 50m, then ropes made of distinct chain links, glass walls you have to smash through with momentum, cannons that shoot you forward, more and more stuff. Maybe visual cosmetic differences, too: starting from different accent color each run all the way to simple geometric backdrops, ”zones“ of structures and scenery being devoured by the anomaly in the background...

That's all just random ideas for potential future improvements, of course. As an LD entry, this is already phenomenal, great job!

Teeter Hero by Strega 2021-10-06T02:38:42Z

The graphics, character design, environmental design, intro sequence — everything in this game is so good and it's so polished, it straight up looks like a product ready for release. Plus, the idea is creative and fresh, gameplay is fun, implementation is nearly flawless.

Sorry I'm not being constructive here, but all I can think of in terms of criticism is stuff like “I wish there were more types of enemies and more levels and maybe power-ups or unlockable abilities or something to add diversity”. But then I remember the whole 72 hours situation and I see all those little touches like the girl just chilling in the passenger seat listening to her headphones, and I'm right back to generating a constant flow of useless praise.

You're awesome.

SolituΔe by rodel77 2021-10-10T16:56:52Z

Yesssss, this is the stuff!

> A person can’t have more than 2 relations, otherwise they will become unstable and may also die

This made me laugh out loud, this is so true of some people! Going in I thought this was probably an introvert simulator, but then when the game ended I laughed out loud once again: the last one was so happy. Apparently, all these little guys need to live forever with not a care in the world is for everyone to *just freaking die and leave them alone!*

Jokes aside though, this game does model a side of real-life relations in a very interesting way. And the gameplay is very stimulating and dynamic. I always loved mini-metro/mini-motorways type mechanics, and this just adds depth to building unstable structures while they change under your cursor.

I think this idea can be developed and explored further: relationships can grow stronger in communities, groups of people having similar interests can retain them for longer, creating several connections between separate groups can provoke new connections to form on their own, etc. Ocean of possibilities here!

I love this so much, thank you.

UnstaLaser by Roelosaurus 2021-10-10T20:39:12Z

This game looks incredible, and I love the core idea.

On some very high level of abstraction this is almost the same balance of decisions as racing: you can choose to go faster/use more power, but it's gonna be more dangerous. But in case of racing you can build up skill to learn to control the power so you can go fast *and* be precise while doing it, and that's what lets you win. I guess that is the feeling I was missing here: some more control so you can feel that your victories aren't pure luck and your losses aren't just unfair.

Maybe after setting the power there could be some simple minigame-type interaction that would determine how successful the next shot is going to be. It would be a metaphor for aiming with an unstable weapon. For example:

Power 1: You just pick a square and shoot, done. Power 2-4: You pick a square and see highlighted area of possible hits. A UI appears for precise aiming: a bar with a narrow green zone and a mark going quickly left and right, and you have to stop it in the green zone — kind of like a "default fishing mini-game" to determine the success of your shot based on how close you get. The closer you get, the more enemies in the zone will get hit (min = 0, max = power level). At power 2 it's easy and you win almost every time, but at power 4 it's so quick that you almost rely completely on luck, but not quite, because whatever the outcome of the minigame, it's still on you!

That's just one idea of how to achieve the feeling I was missing, no doubt there could be numerous other solutions. And, well, it's just an idea, not saying the current completely random shooting is necessarily worse. Just thinking aloud :)

Also, would be nice to maybe have an option to play with the keyboard: WASD + Q/E for setting power + Space to shoot would feel pretty nice imo. Mouse interactions make it a bit slow for my taste.

Sorry for the huge comment, this just shows you how much I liked what you made :) Your entry is awesome.

WONKERZ by BlueCalx 2021-10-09T12:10:10Z

Very unstable indeed!

I think the game could benefit if it was made less uncontrollable though, because I don't think unstable and uncontrollable are exactly synonyms. A bit more could be done in terms of maneuverability, ability to go backwards (yes, I know it was removed on purpose, but still!), ability to turn more rapidly without necessarily falling over at once, etc — it could still be fun and unstable, but less chaotic at the same time, so the player has a stronger sense of control and there's space for developing a skill. Right now the skill appears to be "just move very slowly and don't press any button for longer than 1/5th of a second", and it's not as fun as it could be.

I really loves the stylish visuals with abstract shapes and subtle reflections. Oh, and that squeaking sound the car makes!

Weasel Words by eldogg 2021-10-05T19:59:22Z

I can't stop laughing!

...

Ok, I stopped laughing just to type this: this is awesome, and more games should use the speech synth to add these robotic voice-overs because it's hilarious. I just can't get over the fact that a living taxidermy weasel finds a huge red toad to be “more than a circle or a square”, and... and... I'm not sure how exactly this connects to the theme, but I'm glad to have played this!

Back to laughing now. Maybe it's just nerves.

Captain Canary's Crash Landing Calamity by Beebo Studios 2021-10-07T19:04:43Z

This was interesting! I'll start with critique:

I feel that the most glaring issue is the period during the mode switch — your vehicle is just stuck, button presses do nothing, and it takes a bit too long for the pilot to move from the cockpit to the leg. And after that rescuing a crew member isn't even a challenge, but rescuing two of them at the same time is — and only because the second one will probably fly off the screen in the time it takes you to initiate the rescue mode again.

Also, the missiles felt a bit too fast. Without knowing where they're coming from in advance, and with how tiny and near-invisible they are, avoiding them is about 70% of pure luck, especially when you're near the top or bottom of the screen where their in-frame trajectory is much shorter.

Having said all that, the visuals were really awesome. I liked the design of the ornithopter, and the intensity of the fall with tilted skies and debris and all that — the game is very cinematic, and the mood is great!

Thanks for the ride :)

Unstable Concoction by zantze 2021-10-06T19:34:14Z

This is the most fun typing game of all time. I enjoyed the random ingredient generator so much. Throwing seventeen expensive swan eggs into a cauldron is not something you do every day! I loved the satisfying sound of things falling in, and how some of them just miss, but we carry on (no wonder the potion is unstable)

This was a delicious experience!

Law and Disorder by whycardboard 2021-10-08T13:04:41Z

This was as hilarious as it was confusing :D

I saw two main problems with the gameplay:

First, guidance. I didn't really understand the consequences of anything I was doing. During the first day I was trying to play it safe and only do popular things like lowering the taxes, but none of the bills passed because people thought they were inferior. On the second day I tried raising taxes, but the results were the same. On the third day one bill did pass, but I didn't know which one. So I'm not exactly sure what the people want from me or what I want or what anyone wants. The politics are unstable in the sense that you have to somehow please everyone while getting what you want, but here it's seemingly just random.

The second problem is timing: the options are too slow to appear, and too few. So at first I made an effort to pick and choose the points I thought were important, but because of problem #1 my behavior eventually deteriorated to “just throw everything onto the bill to make as many as possible and hope that *anything* happens”, and there was nothing but blind drag-n-dropping after that. So did anything happen? Up to me, I suppose :)

That said, the mood, music, art, characters and that delightful voice acting are out of this world!

Tipsy Toddlers by Wyatt 2021-10-05T20:06:01Z

Love the visual style and the use of cell shading! I used a Wacom tablet to play, and it was extremely satysfying to finally get a toddler to a bottle after trying to catch them for a minute. I don't really understand why sometimes the kids seem transparent to the cursor, no matter how many times you click — perhaps it's by design to make them hard to catch, but feels a bit like something isn't working in the controls. But other than that, great stuff!

Akameis by BJakubowski 2021-10-05T18:29:13Z

Insanely good! I love the amount of content and the smart level design!

I kinda wish there was a separate set of directional keys that would let me make steps without “aiming” first. E.g., with a gamepad the perfect control scheme would be:

- d-pad = walk - left sticker = aim - buttons = perform action in the aim direction

So maybe WASD to walk, Arrows+ZXCB = action?

In any case, this is one of the most polished and complete entries I've seen so far!

Unstable Concoction by Blueberry_Mauro 2021-10-06T17:55:06Z

Really cool voice acting there! The game was pretty fun, but it would be great to have a bit more control — a few times I managed to throw an ingredient from the shelf straight into the cauldron, and it felt so good. Also, the ingredient list should be much more visible. It got obscured by the vine at some point, so I had to carry on guessing the ingredients. Overall, fun time!

BLOOPS! by jitspoe 2021-10-08T12:44:43Z

It's certainly unstable, but I think it would be much more fun if the physics setup wasn't outright uncontrollable. Every tiny movement just sends the polyominoes flying. If the pieces were heavier, the platform movement slower, the friction higher, this would really be a game one can play for the win, and it would be a great one. The overall twist on the popular “physics tetris” idea is really nice and feels fresh!

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-05T00:38:41Z

@casa-ocho press W! It was supposed to wipe the sand off the solar panel after the sandstorm. But the effect is both invisible and undocumented. Oops.

And thanks!

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-05T21:10:20Z

@erlioniel We had a literal piano level idea in our Trello for this game :D

Also, I can confirm: we're both deeply in love with your entry, it's incredible

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-06T17:42:39Z

@ruofusun Thanks, nice to hear that! The co-op idea is pretty curious. We actually did bring up games like Space Team during brainstorm, and this setting could be a nice driver for a concept like that. We'll explore it for sure :)

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-07T22:42:28Z

@firequake You're absolutely right, the second task isn't even 50% of what we originally intended it to be: we started adding it several hours before the deadline, and it's a miracle it exists at all :D I agree, FG keys should probably be moved to something like KL so the level may be played comfortably with two hands. Once we get back to improving the game, that'll be part of it.

Thanks a lot for playing!

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-08T21:17:39Z

@montazhnikus The art style came out like that because it started off as a rough sketch of “some device with a screen”, and then I refined it without messing with the shape too much, so it got this “clay-ish” quality, and I ran with it. When it started to look like The Neverhood, I even considered finding a Neverhood-like music to go with it, but didn't find anything fitting :D Neverhood is legendary!

Thanks a lot!

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-09T16:25:30Z

@purrseus Hahah, thank you so much! We really wanted to make more tasks, we had about 6 distinct ideas just out of initial brainstorm, and the concept itself seems endless. But we were lucky to manage at least two levels in the end (the rover level is actually very incomplete, it's a miracle it works at all, we started implementing it a couple of hours before the deadline!)

We're planning to expand the game, yup!

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-10T01:38:52Z

Thanks for all the kind words, guys! @jessefreeman @salohcin894 @alanxoc3 @rextgun @simon-rahnasto

@strega There actually is a timer in the form of the progress bar at the bottom of the screen, but it's a bit bugged and not working in Task 1, oops. Working fine in Task 2 though :)

@zachary-barbanell What's worse than just light, you can just hold E-A-S-D-F-G simultaneously and almost auto-win, but that's a secret! Good point about familiar tasks: pasta level was supposed to be an easy tutorial followed my more similar “everyday” tutorials before tackling mars rovers and geopolitics and mental health and other things the player is probably not used to controlling :D But time was really tight!

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-11T01:49:11Z

@coleslaughter Hey, I'm glad you linked the recording! @yogurtthehorse was there with you on the stream, but I (the second dev) couldn't be there at the time. Seeing people play your game is always so much fun, had an awesome time watching you. Thanks for playing, and thanks for the feedback! :)

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-21T11:16:31Z

@llaumegui Thank you so much!

Divine Intervention by YogurtTheHorse 2021-10-21T12:40:12Z

@tayteus Thanks! We absolutely will check out your take on the idea! :)

Shifty Showers by tetrapteryx 2021-10-10T16:20:34Z

This is so goooood. A little gem of a concept. A weather forecast is a great metaphor for a string of upcoming conditions you have to take into account while planning your moves. I love how you can plan out the entire level and then execute it, but still feel the “instability” even when everything is pretty determined from the start.

It would be great to be able to use keyboard to choose the direction, this way the player wouldn't have to aim each time. It's not much of a hassle, just reduces the fluidity a bit (maybe there were keyboard bindings, but I didn't find them).

As a crazy experiment encouraged by the theme: what if in some later levels the forecast started to become imperfect? With things like vertical stacks of conditions with probabilities:

**Sunny**-100% **Sunny**-100% **Wind**-70%/**Freezing**-30% **Rain**-20%/**Sunny**-80%

And as the moves progress, the forecast updates and gets more precise, but still uncertain. So you have to plan your strategy for the whole level beforehand, but take the possibilities into account and react to them. I think it would make a pretty fun twist! Especially when mistakes don't kill you — not guessing the weather will not feel unfair in this case, just a bit unfortunate.

Also, I want this game on mobile, please. With more conditions, more levels, more stakes, unlockable skins, world map, everything, the whole full-blown game. Please just make it, ok? Ok, thanks! (jk ofc, but it would be awesome fit for mobile)

Louis The Scientist by Maxime Cyr 2021-10-05T19:51:02Z

Polished and cute, but gameplay-wise it doesn't really do much for me: you quickly realize what your objective is and then you just repeat the same steps and keep waiting for each of them to complete while you do nothing. I think this game would immediately get much more fun if all those wait times were removed and a bit of variation introduced to the experiments you need to conduct. Overall, I see this as an idea for a potential mechanic where you need to find a way to achieve a goal through a combination of steps and ingredients. It could be very engaging!

Unstable Investments by Japayne 2021-10-10T18:29:32Z

This was interesting! The main thing that was bothering me the whole time is my inability to withdraw funds quickly from a live stock that's up there but falling. There should really be a way to grab everything a once, I think.

And perhaps the hints shouldn't be literal descriptions of future events: when a stock is going up, that's not really news, you can already see it. News should contain something that lets *you* make educated guesses as for where the stock is gonna go.

Maybe there could even be a silly mechanic of a window in which you can see the outside world and changes within it. That smoke on the horizon... ooooh, the Yellow HQ is that way, I guess their stock is about to crumble if they're literally on fire. And that rain over Red farms? I bet the harvest will be good, gotta invest now! Stuff like that, you know? Just an idea :)

And the overall goal seems a bit weird, imo. Why do I need 500 gold in every stock when I could just have 2500 gold for myself? Some stocks are in decline, I shouldn't have to invest in them just to win.

Also, I think it would be nice to have a mark on the graph whenever you buy or sell to see how you're doing.

That all said, very cool game overall! Pleasant presentation and music, the quills drawing the plots are cool looking, the way the graph changes when you hover over the banners is helpful. I liked it a lot!

Trauma by AdamCYounis 2021-10-07T23:36:36Z

The idea of collecting and chaining commands/moves/abilities like this to solve environmental puzzles is incredible on its own, but the way you connected it all to the theme and written it into the narrative (and a complicated one at that!) is the whole other level of profound design.

The one complaint I have is with the control scheme for rearranging the cards. Using any other key to initiate the shuffling would be an improvement, just to eliminate situations such as “damn, I just wanted to try this chain while standing a little bit further, I didn't want to rearrange the cards”. Kinda yanks you out. Maybe even tying left/right/select to Q/E/W so the player can edit the chain at any moment without a dedicated screen by just shifting their fingers one row of keys up? The card descriptions could show up in the corner, for example.

Overall, the game was beautiful. Thank you for this, it really struck a chord. Now I'm off to watch your recorded Twitch stream to see the process :)

Unstable States by ELBIDEV 2021-10-10T18:57:59Z

I like the design of the monster and the core idea very much. It would be interesting to see it explored a bit further, to see the character changing forms with neat animations, maybe unlocking new forms when reaching certain spots in the level, maybe some enemies are only vulnerable to some forms but not others while some forms are immune to their weapons (rock-paper-scissors kind of deal), etc.

Keep it up, cheers!

Russian Connect by YellowKamel 2021-10-05T20:46:52Z

Ok, making itch.io refer to the game as "piece of propaganda" immediately deserved 5* humor from me even before I heard your voice, but after I did hear it, ай вонтед ту авард ю твелв старз фор хьюмор инстэд оф джаст файв!

The voice seems to be out of sync with the text reveal, but when you're pressing the button, both the audio and the text get censored at the same time, resulting in different pieces of info getting censored. It's confusing, but I'm sure it wasn't by design: getting those to sync up must've been pretty hard.

But other than that

This is an ingenious concept, I can't get over how much I like this. It's one of these prototypes that make your brain immediately go CLICK as soon as you get the idea, and then you just can't stop smiling because you saw something so original and fresh. I want more of this. I want a full blown Papers Please-style job simulator about just this! Definitely one of my favorite entries.

Grabanakki by Saturnyoshi 2021-10-06T18:59:01Z

This is... I'm... It's...

Make Grabanakki merch, I'll buy some.

No time to type, I need to go play more Grabanakki.

Unstable Concoction by itsatony 2021-10-07T18:37:55Z

I can clearly see the potential behind this fresh mechanic. It requires the player to build a relatively simple skill, and it feels very good to nail the throw. I've been trying to perfect it to the point where I can throw the bottle and then catch it without slowing down — I think perfect throws like that should be rewarded somehow, at least visually. Also, music was spot-on. I enjoyed this a lot, thanks!

Warhead Stroll by cagibi 2021-10-06T18:23:38Z

I can confirm, three-legged dogs are much easier to animate!

This has to be the most fun I've had so far. The dialogs are hysterical, and at first I thought text was distracting me from the boss fight. But then the text stopped, and it turned out that noooo, the Butcher fight is just h-a-r-d. But somehow it's also not tiresome. But somehow I still haven't won... I'll get back and get that salami later!

In one level I was confused as for where I was supposed to go, e.g. I tried going East on the cross-roads level, and I spent way too much time failing before I realized I was supposed to go South.

But other than that, awesome idea, great execution, hilarious writing!

1000 Shells by MabraX 2021-10-10T19:21:45Z

I absolutely love the idea of making the player discover the rules by playing! Discovering every new rule is incredibly satisfying.

I spent too much time before I understood how exactly turning worked for some reason, and even after that it didn't quite feel logical to use absolute directions for rotation. Just using W/A/D keys where A/D is turning CCW/CW and W is step forward would be so much more intuitive and natural for this type of motion.

I like the design of the puzzles and the way they introduce new concepts gradually.

Great entry!

A Healthy Dose of Dungeon by alanxoc3 2021-10-09T21:24:43Z

Just watched the game on BluishGreen's twitch, and then played it myself, and it was exceptional!

I really appreciate the art style and those tiny organic-looking details like the shimmering red background behind the white contours of the hearts, just all the beautiful touches you've added.

The theme connection, the plot twist at the end — superb. The first time you're playing (or, well, watching) the game you really believe that you're in a dungeon surrounded by enemies, because you have no reason to doubt it. And in that sense your connection with the character is very strong: in the moment of realisation, you and him are *both* stunned to learn the truth. But, well, he's more terrified and you're more *delighted*.

There's a lot of explaining of mechanics the game has to do and doesn't, but I was lucky enough to listen to you explain everything on the stream. I'm sure you'd do that perfectly given the right amount of time.

What I would really like to see in a potential full version of this is probably more challenge: maybe stealth elements, extra-tough monsters, maze-like sections, etc. to make the character's journey through his hallucination a somewhat demanding experience. Introducing stealth would have an effect similar to Dishonored games: if you were clearly given a way to complete the game without killing but chose to kill, in the end it just adds emotional weight.

Overall, awesome!

Hellbamb by Alopar 2021-10-07T23:00:21Z

Would be cool to see some more feedback whenever you make a decision in the game. Right now the only thing changing from attempt to attempt is the height, and it makes it pretty trivial to solve the level. Something more challenging like a [Bulls and Cows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulls_and_Cows) mechanic would already be more rewarding.

But art, character design, music, overall polish — all these categories are absolutely nailed. I love how the souls represent the Sins. Beautiful entry!

Horsey Bash by jakefriend 2021-10-06T02:59:04Z

This game feels like it dives into almost unexplored ocean of potential new gameplay mechanics. It feels real-time and turn-based at the same time, and the situation is always unstable in a fresh way. So much content and so many ideas packed so densely.

At first you feel completely out of control, and the game just destroys you, and it seems like there's nothing you can really do. But then you start developing tactics, applying the knight rerouting skills from chess, positioning yourself in smart ways, using the environment. The first time you manage to kill an enemy with dash — the very thing that's supposed to be working against you — it feels *powerful*.

Maybe it would be good for the learning curve to greet players with weaker enemies at first to give them some time to adjust. But overall, this is already an endless treasury of possibilities. I really hope to see this project live on and develop into something much bigger!

Oh, and I can't get enough of those UI transitions. How are they so delicious? I'll just go click around some more.

Last Bargain by Erlioniel 2021-10-05T01:49:49Z

This is out of this world. It's a polished, original, beautiful, atmospheric, fun gameplay that's perfectly in tune with the theme. Reminded me of the old game “Crazy Gravity”. I can't even nitpick, every aspect of this game is incredible. The only thing that's slightly bothering me is that I'm physically unable to read the dialogue and story while I'm concentrating on not smashing into a wall, but if this was to become a full-blown release (which it might and, frankly, should!), a voice-over would solve the problem. Damn, I just called “too much story” a “problem”...

You guys rock. 11/10.

Crazy Cauldron by Quite Good 2021-10-17T10:24:00Z

I can't believe how much I love this. Super tasty pixel art, strong vibes of Kyrandia games, clever mechanics of catching ingredients in the wild, it's so simple and elegant.

I'd really love a keyboard shortcut for switching between the cauldron and the forest.

Maybe what I'd love to see is a little bit more skill involved, for right now a lot of it seems to be relying on how agile you are with your mouse. E.g. if all of your ingredients are not fitting, all you can do is ditch them as fast as you can and go hunt for the ones you need, and a huge part of these actions is purely mechanical.

But when you're in the laboratory busy creating actual potions, you do feel like a specialist applying a skill: you need to understand the color wheel and make informed decisions about the next ingredient you wanna put in, and some part of me wants to feel more of that. Maybe add other parameters to consider besides the color, or make colors obey some laws that aren't that regular and need to be discovered, add some complexity into the magical side of things. Hunting for ingredients could still be a part of the process, but maybe a bit less prevalent and a bit less random, as in, hunting for specific ingredients could require separate mini-skills or knowledge about where to look...

Having typed that out, I'm realising I'm probably just describing a completely different game by now. But hey, your game inspired this train of thought, so I'm sharing!

Awesome entry!

Virus->Run(); by Alpha Wolf Studios 2021-10-05T21:39:33Z

So it's unstable both in terms of falling platforms and buggy software — I dig it, you nailed the theme twice! The game became much more fun once I discovered the double jump, recovering from a falling platform is so satisfying every time. Nice job!

GROUDOU! by Chacawott 2021-10-07T19:49:06Z

So it's an accelerated Tamagotchi kind of deal :D Switching between different mini-games to fill the progress bars is a fun take on instability. I could see an issue with the green minigame design: once you switch to it, you have to wait for the first arrow to reach the line, and it takes too long for how dynamic the game is. You're pulled out of the loop and have to waste time waiting while the other progress bars keep falling. I think making the games more “immediately accessible” would be beneficial.

The voice acting was impeccable!

PING 99 by MFauzan 2021-10-05T01:58:32Z

This is pure evil :D Original, cute and with great connection to the theme. I especially love the “bad connection” sound. Nicely done!

A Hard Pill to Swallow by osh.studio 2021-10-05T20:55:55Z

I love the subtle touches, like the way the pill stops joyfully wiggling its hands and gets all serious as soon as it hits a wall for the first time. The game plays very smoothly, the reset button is a god sent, completing a tricky shot is always satisfying, and that intro is delightfully well-drawn! 30 murders out of 31!

RTFM - LD49 by straighter 2021-10-05T01:22:23Z

We had a remarkably similar idea about manipulating machinery and reacting to lights after memorizing instructions from a manual :D Great job on this entry! I gotta admit, I wasn't able to win so far, but I'll come back and keep trying, I won't let this defeat me!

Rock punk by Proz 2021-10-07T20:05:35Z

The gameplay is really unclear. The player's character is moving very slowly, kicking only pushes the rocks a few feet, and you have to push-push-push a single rock before it's off the platform, and by that time 10 more rocks will have fallen, and you feel completely helpless as a result. But then in the first few levels you don't even fail with all those rocks on the platform, so it feels like nothing you do or don't do really matters.

I invented a strategy where I try to push several rocks together and then kick them all at once, but this still takes too much time. After level 4 or so it feels like no matter what I do it's just not enough.

At the same time, nice visual design, cozy colors and cute characters! A little bit of balancing could make this concept work much better.

Классный комикс в описании!))

BLOP by ooyjian 2021-10-05T21:22:11Z

This has been done a few times before, but each time is a blast. The execution is smooth!

BLOP by ooyjian 2021-10-06T23:04:20Z

@stvnchng The most memorable was Tricky Towers. That game has great party-type multiplayer and a bunch of diverse mechanics on top of the core idea. But in general, googling “physics tetris” will yield a bunch of different titles, some more memorable and unique than others. They are all tuned a little bit differently, some are more “slippery” than others, some are a bit more stable, rotation and snapping mechanics are different, etc.

The fact that this has been done before only means that the idea is pretty awesome. And the theme connection is undeniable! :D

Unstable Situation by KeichiTS 2021-10-09T11:10:35Z

There's no way to tell which doors are unlocked, so after you get another orb you dive right back into the chore of checking every door one by one to see which will open — it's not a huge problem in this game because it's relatively short, but if this mechanic was used to create a bigger game, some kind of indication would probably be needed, in my opinion.

I really appreciated the stylish visuals, the way music changes in altered sections, the “meet the devs” Easter Egg, it's a great entry, thanks!

.Script by Jega Studio 2021-10-05T20:16:59Z

Ahhh, CRT scanlines, chromatic aberration, glitch effects, this game is just delightful to look at! Also, smart level design and very satisfying feedback from every interaction. I'm loving everything about this.

Oh, and this game has a very important feature no other game I've played today has. Studio logo in the beginning!

Leap Frog! by FALKon2246 2021-10-05T20:12:53Z

The theme connection is undeniable :D The mechanic is pretty simple, but seems difficult to master the first few tries, hence the satisfaction once you get the hang of it. Cute ”ribbit” sound!

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-09T18:08:28Z

This must be the most creative instability mechanics I've seen yet, and the audio-visual presentation is just out of this world! The gameplay reminded me of Reigns a little bit: you make decisions that affect different parameters simultaneously, so you rarely get exactly what you want, and the whole process feels unstable, but not entirely luck based. Brilliant entry!

Where's My Tripod? by Pixelydian 2021-10-21T17:56:51Z

This is so beautiful! I would love to be able to review the photos I made at the end, and I'd also love some noticeable feedback right after each shot to clearly see how well I did (maybe the value of the shot in corresponding color flying up slowly + a sound, that sort of thing). But overall this is a solid core idea that can be expanded with new fun mechanics pretty easily, I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Oh, and the art is just \*chef's kiss\*

Web of Lies by Ava Skoog 2022-04-05T14:29:36Z

Damn, I tried everything. They just don't want me at the Burgler King. Despite my young age of 20 to 50 and my excellent track record of maybe possibly having some experience. I'm depressed now.

Flooded Caves by nusan 2022-04-05T21:02:39Z

I could play this forever. In fact, I'm gonna play some more right now.

Beseech by DrewG8 2022-04-06T21:27:04Z

I really loved the art style and the concept, spent some time studying the art. But in the end I'm not sure I understood what exactly I was expected to do :D Maybe that was the point. The inevitability was certainly there!

Lag Tha Magma by wavertron 2022-04-05T12:49:29Z

Ahh, feels great even with the lag (don't have access to a Windows computer, so had to deal with it). I ended up digging a well just in front of the castle and standing next to it, studying the lava particles. How they light up with velocity making the flow look alive and hot. And how the character's idle animation includes scratching his butt. Nice entry with lots of tiny cool touches, I loved it!

Lag Tha Magma by wavertron 2022-04-05T12:49:29Z

—(duplicate comment due to a network error)—

Ydunian Prune by MateusBoga 2022-04-06T20:39:45Z

Well, growing a kingdom from a tiny sapling and then ruining it with maniacal consumption is a nice way to end an evening. The game is captivating, surprising (didn't see the screenshots, so I was indeed surprised by the progression) and absolutely beautiful!

Grieventide by Abdonatioera 2022-04-05T13:49:49Z

I really like the way lighting is implemented as this wobbly shape that reacts to your movement. For a while I didn't understand what the collectibles are doing because my life was full all the time, but when the hits started putting my light out, everything made sense.

Helly Belly by lootgrounds 2022-04-06T20:53:54Z

Spent much more time than I expected in this game, it's so simple and beautiful. Mesmerizing graphical style? and I really love the tune. It's playing in my head right now!

Jeesus's stroll in the park by qviguier 2022-04-05T13:55:11Z

Damn, I really wanted to play this when I saw the thumbnail, and it's Windows-only. There's clearly no god :(

ileftbehind.me by thevinter 2022-04-05T19:04:36Z

I absolutely love the idea and the beginning of the story, I just wish the typing animation was faster/skippable. I realize it would probably break the immersion, but because of how slow it is I had to leave mid-session and lost my progress, so I'll have to start over now because I want to finish it. In any case, great job! :)

Estrella by Xiris 2022-04-06T11:43:17Z

A very tight typing game, super enjoyable! Absolutely loved the UFO feature. The sfx could be a little less loud, had to turn the volume to almost 0 to save my ears :D Overall, a great entry, kudos!

Too Cute for Space Fights by YogurtTheHorse 2022-04-05T09:02:50Z

@mascoll Thanks a lot! The bubble reflection is totally @yogurtthehorse's achievement, I'm still shocked this effect was even possible, it makes more geometrical sense than it has any right to, lmao. And oh boy, was your submission fun! Yours is the first entry I've checked out in LD50, and it's one hell of a start, haha.

@chusmimax Thanks! Yes, in our game you're fighting for the *grater* good... (coughs) sorry. Your art style looks incredible btw, I'll be sure to check the game itself out once I get to a Windows machine. Good luck!

@crychair Thanks for the good points. About 60% of planned features were scratched due to insufficient time, so the rest is left pretty unbalanced :D Another day or two of work would go a long way, but yeah. Your game looks super interesting, Imma check it out right after I publish this comment!

Too Cute for Space Fights by YogurtTheHorse 2022-04-05T13:29:03Z

@ternox Дуже дякуємо!)

@noskro Thank you! I had a ton of fun with Future Me Problem, too, to a point where my brain now wants to stack everythings around me. :D And yeah, the game start/game over screen is a litle too easy to skip by just pressing a button, noticed it too late to fix it. Just asking to press any button not used in the game would do the trick. Oh well, we'll do better next time!

@nikaz Yep, погибать — так с музыкой, right? :D Congrats on the Catocalypse, it's super adorable!

Too Cute for Space Fights by YogurtTheHorse 2022-04-05T19:00:13Z

@chilljams Thanks for the critique, you're absolutely correct about that, seeing consequences of what you're doing is currently impossible. We planned a much more complicated system, but alas :) And yeah, we had a mini-map prepared, but got completely overwhelmed.

minimap.gif

Basically we chose to focus on all the audiovisual stuff to get the overall idea and mood across, and I'm glad to see we succeeded to some degree :)

Too Cute for Space Fights by YogurtTheHorse 2022-04-05T19:01:30Z

@she-wrote Thanks a lot! :)

Click to Continue by Daniel Foutz 2022-04-05T19:55:47Z

I have no words. I've been contemplating the fact I live in a world where people bursting with creativity and enthusiasm and talent are given absolute creative freedom and all the tools and tech they need to create and share things... and then we have things like this entry just, you know, appearing. This is just too good. I love this world and I love you, thank you :)

Battery Low by Milestone Games 2022-04-05T08:45:39Z

This is brilliant! Loved the art, the audio and the overall mood of the game, it feels fantastic to play. It was pretty simple, but the concept definitely has the potential to grow into something more sophisticated difficulty-wise. Increasing the turn radius with speed is a great mechanic making you waste more energy on tight maneuvers (I think it takes more energy? I'm not sure, but it would make sense) to make you plan ahead and avoid the terrain. Lastly, the faded trail of your past ghost is just an awesome touch. The whole experience is very balanced and *playable*, which is a pretty darn hard thing to achieve in our experience (our last three game jams resulted in prototypes that look and feel better than they play, lol).

Oh, and yes, Rovar and the little dude from our game totally got along! :)

DLAY's Buffet by BinaryPrinciple 2022-04-05T16:46:50Z

The game is perhaps a little too easy... but! The grab-n-throw mechanic feels so nice for some reason. Maybe it's because you just feel like a badass baller hitting the ring perfectly with every throw without a second thought. This feeling of easily doing things that are usually difficult is a great satisfaction generator, and you captured it here.

Reversary by AploveStudio 2022-04-05T18:28:03Z

Ok, this is it. The one game from a game jam that will just stick in my brain for weeks, and I'm gonna run around and tell everyone about it and think about the concept and wish I could have more of this story in some form to learn more about the world and the characters. This is just too good, couldn't set it aside until I finished it. Thank you :)

Batteries not included by qookie 2022-04-05T14:12:24Z

With the way shooting and movement works and with how zombies emerge in groups from the sides, destroying a wave of any size is as easy as spamming [space]. You just obliterate a crowd of any size from a safe distance and then run up to gather way more ammo than you'll need and shoot the next wave of mobs from the other side. Then at some point zombies start approaching faster than you can physically shoot, and the game just ends almost instantly. Granted, it does feel inevitable and makes for a strong theme connection this way, but I'd say a little balancing wouldn't hurt :) Overall it was still fun!

5 More Minutes by Sam Horner 2022-04-06T11:54:32Z

The most realistic game in this jam *by far*!

Never High Noon by Jibberwocky 2022-04-06T11:50:49Z

A clever and fun entry. Loved the visual execution of the light from the sun, looks really interesting. The result of shooting the gunslinger made me laugh :D

Department Of Demise by Crychair 2022-04-05T13:38:55Z

This is so polished it's insane. I could listen to this voice acting forever! I really really wish the controls were much more keyboard-friendly, having to move stuff around with my trackpad made it next to impossible to keep up later on, but I'll give it another go with a stylus instead. This is a stellar entry, congrats!

Future me problem by noskro 2022-04-05T13:04:27Z

Damn, how much time can a grown-up spend rearranging virtual trash in a virtual bin? Apparently, unlimited time! Oh those famous single-use bowling balls, this game is just like real life. I, too, frequently struggle with trash bins that are too small to contain my used fishing rods.

Pro-tip: playing this with a stylus is much more fun!

You keep on reading these comments, I'm gonna stack some more trash.

Catocalypse by Neshtyak 2022-04-05T13:25:37Z

Really nice art, loved the intro and the designs of embodiment of the three aspects of catness :D It seems to me that the controls could be a bit less demanding: just using an ability while close to a target without clicking it would be more fun imo, the rock-paper-scissory system of choosing the right ability is already an obstacle, and a good feeling one. But overall, the idea, the presentation, the theme connection — everything is very good!

Gods of Divine Stuff: RAgnarök by Anaxie Studio 2022-04-07T13:06:15Z

Wow, the last time I saw different mythologies interacting so smoothly I was playing God of War, hahah. I really liked the story and enjoyed following it. The game seemed trivially easy at first, but then, abruptly, it became absolutely impossible: I can't get any further, no matter what I do no one can hurt any of the enemies and I just die... But I really want to see the end of the story! :D Great job, excellent entry!

IBYH!? by Trabasura 2022-04-05T16:57:52Z

Theme, atmosphere and music are on point! I like the structure of scenes and the overall narrative flow. I couldn't get through some of the mini-games, I gotta admit. But in the end, the game leaves a nice feeling. I like it!

Arboressence by Aspect Studio 2022-04-06T12:04:13Z

Loved the artstyle, spent some time just studying the details in the city. The weapons present an opportunity to come up with effective tactics. This core mechanic has a nice potential, I really enjoyed the entry!

Doomed Drone Defence by Skyward4d 2022-04-05T10:08:38Z

I din't even notice time flying by as I was maxing out those upgrades. The game could use polish, but the core idea is well executed and works really well, great stuff!

Dungeon Crawl by jzucc12 2022-04-07T07:12:39Z

Was really fun to figure out the strategy! Art and audio were picked really nicely and contributed to the mood. The gameplay itself is surprisingly well-balanced and encourages experimentation. A great entry!

Cold and Alone by David York 2022-04-05T20:45:18Z

Amazing game that feels absolutely complete. I'd been playing for almost an hour, and I still didn't quite get used to the mapping of the controls, I don't know why my brain refuses to remember the scheme. But other than that, gosh. I want much, much more content in this game. If this ever gets to a full release, I'm ready to buy it.

Little Time Hero by TERNOX 2022-04-05T09:17:06Z

This rocks, addictive af, and gathering the ever better loot feels very rewarding. I can see spending an hour or two in this game, easily. Imagine how many hours it could steal from me another three dev days down the line :D

Carton Carrier by dimlight 2022-10-05T19:17:12Z

Had fun, would play again, will probably play again, actually I'm off to play again, bye.

Waves by RiptideStudio 2022-10-04T19:09:23Z

Remember how Super Hot was born as a game jam submission and went on to become a huge unique thing? I'm getting strong vibes of Super Hot success from this entry. It's incredible. Add some nice control scheme to it with a gamepad support, and I'll be lost for hours and hours. Also, give me a full VR version. Where do I put my money?

10 Snekonds by YogurtTheHorse 2022-10-04T01:20:18Z

@kelp Honestly? Neither have we. But we were oh-so-close more than once! Last phase sure needs balancing.

But we're pretty sure the game does indeed have a win screen. Perhaps someone will see it some day.

The Internship by MrBamboo 2022-10-04T11:49:35Z

*Don't even TALK to me until I've had my coffee!*

I've enjoyed the hell out of the opportunity to strut around The Office, it's so endearing! The set is recreated with awesome attention to detail, and it's a pleasure to look at.

I would love to see more variety in terms of tasks to perform: every task from your list would make a good activity in my opinion, and would add diversity to the process. But in the end I did get hired and got to fly the paper airplane, yay! My only concern is that they'll give me a workplace in Ryan's closet :(

Thwack by Jon Topielski 2022-10-04T12:25:44Z

It plays smoothly and feels really good, it just doesn't really have a theme connection. The game jus begs to get rid of the 10 seconds thing to become a fun, cute little tennis simulator that it is. :) Great job anyway!

A Handy Job by 0X_VOID_X0 2022-10-04T19:32:30Z

First off, hahahahahahaha.

So many things in this game are just pure fun. From the core mechanic that tickles your brain to the unexpected tasks such as massaging the boss's back, it's delightful! Also, the 5 second break was veeeery welcome, so thoughtful. thanks for the incredible entry :)

NN7 Guardian by Erlioniel 2022-10-05T11:14:05Z

Awesome game loop, very intuitive and catchy. It has this hard to describe quality that makes you feel like you're learning some kind of useful skill while you're playing, you feel like the game is big and you're gonna need to get really good at it if you're serious about playing, even though it's very simple and straightforward. Maybe it's due to incredible levels of polish (I'm getting strong Startopia vibes) — graphics, audio, UI, everything is 5/5.

What this game needs in my opinion is some clear visualization of goals and progress. When I got to about 15 miners and 15 fighters, I was feeling that I topped out because my miners would pretty much strip a system of all its resources in one wave while my fighters effortlessly destroyed the first wave of enemies, and then I would just spend all my profit on jump preparation. I was convinced this was it. But then I just decided to see what would happen if I kept fighting instead of fleeing, and I suddenly won.

It would be great to at least see how many jumps you've made. Maybe have the ability to upgrade my ships, heal the mothership, gather resources for some kind of super-weapon and then progressively build it and defend it from intruders and worry about having to leave the whole thing behind and start over, the concept is so flexible and so easily extended with this kinds of features. I would really love to see a post-jam version or even a full game with this mechanic and aesthetic.

Thanks for an awesome entry!

NN7 Guardian by Erlioniel 2022-10-06T06:18:43Z

@erlioniel Oh, I didn’t mean in any way that what was done was “insufficient” — you’re absolutely right, our entry has a very similar problem with unclear goals and stuff :D Beyond the first paragraph my whole comment was all a fantasy about a potential product your game could grow into :)

And wow, the UI looks even more impressive now that I know the fun fact, hahah

Alice In Ten Seconds by Golin 2022-10-04T18:41:37Z

Adorable characters and a nice surprise with the sudden genre switch

Hell's Kitchen by MaDness 2022-10-04T11:28:35Z

Everything is pretty clear, and once you get to a point where you're memorizing recipes it becomes insane in a good way. Great presentation and mood, too. A fair representative of the genre, great work!

Ten Secs To Pack! by SpacelionJoe 2022-10-04T12:15:18Z

It was waaaay more fun that I unticipated :D I think I did everything, I just kept packing and dancing to the groovy beats at the same time, and the game kept throwing new stuff at me that made me laugh. The three-eyed (Schrödinger's?) cat escaped the closed box and hid up in the pipes, and I tried to catch it with an opened box, but it wouldn't go in, argh! :D

Overall, I loved the creativity with the items and their behavior, there's a potential here to create a huge variety that will keep the player on their toes for hours.

Oh, and a separate appreciation for making the book actually animate when opening/closing!

STARFLAIL by Mors 2023-05-02T12:47:51Z

Ok, this is just a finished product, I'm not even sure if I want any features added to it. It's pure joy to play as is!

Squeeze & Wiggle by YogurtTheHorse 2023-10-10T13:47:21Z

Hey @ategon, of course we don't mind :)

(The question wasn't addressed to us, and I missed that, but we still don't mind! :D)

A Tale of Six Rites by graebor 2024-04-19T18:08:52Z

The puzzle is very simple, feels like introductory level to a game that could potentially be very challenging and interesting! The presentation is just mesmerising. I adore the eye button and its animation.

Summoney (VR Only) by shadowbrain 2024-04-21T13:37:58Z

Cannot play it, but I really like this general idea and I want to draw spells with my wand to cast them in VR! This idea seems so flexible, using a glyph recognizer perhaps it could even be upgraded to hold a button > tip of the wand lights up > draw a symbol > release button. And to make use of VR's strengths, the symbols you draw in the air could be volumetric, not just flat (e.g. you might be required to draw, like, a tetrahedron), which could be sick.

Also, making a VR-only game for a jam is a bold move, I salute you!

Turret Queen by leparlon 2024-04-19T16:01:46Z

Saw this on PomoTheDev's stream and went to playtest. Nice solid shmup, loving it! Really cool playing with helpers, I just wish I could get even more. Playing two games at once overloads my brain so much, I love trying to find a mode in which my brain can handle this, full-on next level of metagame. Awesome entry!

Thalatta's Grand Heist by Silas Reinagel 2024-04-21T16:39:45Z

Very cool core mechanic of "dialing" the spells, although maybe rebinding them to something that doesnt involve a pinky holding a button would be nice :) Like, just having the player memorise the sequences (maybe making them shorter and also keeping the cheat sheet on Shift for example) and putting them on IJKL to play with two hands on WASD and IJKL. Then even some simple attacking spells could be usable in fast situations, perhaps.

Including a timer was probably not the best idea, because 1) sometimes I just wanted to slow down and appreciate the art and level design and study it a bit, but also 2) the controls weren't the most responsive and I spent a lot of time just trying to get to places or aiming at doors because the player wouldn't "lick" corners. Also, the gear in the wall was just plain hard to see and I saw it too late, so when the time ran out I just honestly didn't want to start it all over.

But I just have to acknowledge the sheer amount of content in this game. All the puzzles, all the level design and planning, effects, sounds for almost everything, screen transitions, little UI touches (I love how the object gradually appears as you dial in the spell), voice acting, jokes, a full-blown story (illustrated with AI art, but I have zero problems with that, most of the art in the game itself is not AI, and you cleverly used a tool to provide a more full experience in short time... except mentioning it somewhere would probably be more wholesome).

The whole thing is just impressive for how complete of a package it is. Great job!

Tristram by Rongo Matane 2024-04-17T20:22:47Z

This entry looks and sounds like a full Steam release, and the amount of content is insane!

Summoner: The Greatest Wizard by Eric Schmiel 2024-04-20T22:24:24Z

Great start! And, like people have said, great walking animation, I legitimately stared at it for a good minute :D Would like to play more if there'll be a post-jam version!

Wonder Whistle by Ismael Rodriguez 2024-04-17T13:35:57Z

I just have to say it. I felt weird and a bit creeped out about the whole story/lore here...

I mean, it's a world full of brain-dead "nice guys" who are just obsessed with this girl to the point they'll *rush* to her as soon as she as much as whistles, and she's so frustrated and unimpressed by this attention the whole time, but she chooses to use it to get what she wants, so she puts up with them staring at her and shoving her and grabbing her and, like, pushing her into a corner and grinning while being 0 mm away from her annoyed face...

I completely understand how this concept emerged from the theme, and the resulting puzzle system is amazing, but the whole "girls, right?" message here is... let's say, I don't find it cute or particularly funny, but my dad would.

Now, with that out of the way:

I really enjoyed the variety of puzzles and the sense of progression: you always expect a new mechanic around the corner, and it keeps you thrilled to continue playing. The game also does a great job at teaching the player every new element in a natural way. And the amount of content, damn! Every time I thought to myself "ok, this is a jam game, this has to be the last level, right?", it wasn't! Art style and mood are cute and cozy and remind me of Nintendo Wii for some reason.

Overall, it's a good and very well-executed entry!

Dungeon Evoker by VPhyre 2024-04-21T16:56:12Z

Ahh, good old Guitar Hero buttons! Same colors, I see you! :)

The "notes" not being synced to the music threw me off a couple of times, and the ZXC-NM mapping was confusing to my brain, this gap between C and N didn't want to make sense in my head. But overall the entry is funny and charming and I had a good time completing your game, great job!

Ritual by filgreen3 2024-04-16T14:26:01Z

Took me some time to understand what works how and to resist the urge to just attach the most pretty thing in the most symmetrical manner... Well, I lied, I didn't resist this urge. I might have accidentally discovered the OP build: two stairs of jaws on both sides supported by a spine with a liver on top (for decoration of course) seems to be unbeatable. :D

I see a ton of potential in this, and the whole building mechanic seems to be a bottomless pit of gameplay ideas. Speaking of which, I see you did another building game for LD54, I'm off to check that out, too!

Glyph Tower by YogurtTheHorse 2024-04-16T12:34:18Z

@mizuto @mollusk @svenerik @drgcandle @james-greenleaf @lachlan-james @omitsu @castitatis @partkyle @icxon @ronn-fever @nox282 @mantsje @spica @dekisenpaitm @misoukun @promzona @enver-arco @creatan @benjamin-jaeger

Thank you all so much for playing and for the kind words guys!

@svenerik Yeah, we've been imagining a tablet port, this would be pretty fun with a pen. Even just making it work with a pen tablet on desktop would be cool, but Unity didn't want to make it easy :D

@drgcandle Not a bad score for the first try! We were really worried about the difficulty, we started balancing way too late and it was madness. Glad to hear you liked the result!

@lachlan-james Yeah, the track seems to consistently remind people about Noita, hahah, props to @kiberptah!

@castitatis @nox282 @misoukun the gesture recognition is done using a third party asset, [Gesture Recognizer](https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/input-management/gesture-recognizer-86410). It was a lot of fun to work with, but has its quirks!

@icxon Thanks for the amazing video, it's always such a thrill to see a person who didn't develop the game and hasn't touched it during development play it. Also very nervous, usually ton of stuff goes wrong or things you thought were obvious turn out completely enigmatic to players. Your video showed almost no visible frustration on your part, and you even used all the spells (minus one) at least once, I was grinning the whole time :D <3

Glyph Tower by YogurtTheHorse 2024-04-16T14:42:26Z

@castitatis We almost considered using an old in-house solution I had from an old game, that thing was like 250 lines of code and defined gestures like "CFIBEHADG" and used like 33 heuristics and does a great job in a released commercial project, but @yogurtthehorse went "No, I want something that looks serious and scary!". It was a good call because we ended up needing to iterate a lot with gesture shapes, and a full-blown gesture editor was a must for this.

Glyph Tower by YogurtTheHorse 2024-04-16T18:11:08Z

@snory Thanks a lot! Yes, a lot of feedback is missing for sure, it seems that adding all necessary feedback to a jam game is just impossible, dozens and dozens of places need it and it's so damn tough to keep track of. But there's always that one game in every jam that does it *all* and more. :D

As for the gestures, we used [Gesture Recognizer](https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/input-management/gesture-recognizer-86410) asset.

Glyph Tower by YogurtTheHorse 2024-04-17T01:14:51Z

@ismael-rodriguez

The UI got a little cramped as we added more spells and we were out of time to fit all the necessary information in a concise and readable way, and also the game is lacking any tutorial on that. But yep, dots around glyphs are their prices, you guessed that right!

We did a few iterations on the cursor dots thing: if you don't restrict the number, it's easy to collect too many and it just gets too busy. So we restricted it, but actually if you keep collecting when it's full, you'll replace the oldest ones. This is how it currently works, but a big flaw here is, you can lose an old dot you wanted to use later because you collected a new one, and you can't really always control how many dots you collect or see which are about to be replaced, it gets confusing sometimes... maybe just putting your dots along the edge of the screen grouped by color + making affordable spells light up was the first step of the answer here, hm.

I got carried away there :D Thanks for playing and for the feedback!

Glyph Tower by YogurtTheHorse 2024-04-19T22:34:29Z

@ansible Thanks! Making glyphs light up before you cast is a great idea, would look pretty cool, we'll definitely play around with it. One downside is, if you're drawing a glyph and it doesn't light up, there's not much you can really do about it, so it won't help with accuracy. This game just needs a better glyph recognition system, that's for sure :)

Glyph Tower by YogurtTheHorse 2024-04-19T23:39:38Z

@ansible Ah, I see :) You're totally right, that feature is absolutely necessary, people keep suggesting it, and for a good reason. Trying to count tiny dots flying around the cursor is a pain

Decades And Dragons by Ein 2024-04-20T19:12:09Z

The theme is on point! I really enjoyed the presentation and the overall idea, although the gameplay turned out a bit easy. This would be pretty cool as an introductory level to something like what @unless-games described (kudos for those ideas!)

Nice job!

Summon Salmon by TheJookerful 2024-04-18T12:01:10Z

Third place baby, yeah! This was fun :D

I'm very puzzled by the decision to place action keys on B and K, my hand started getting sore from stretching like that after a while. And I think mines presented more challenge than bears and logs, but it started getting more fun as difficulty increased. Art and sounds are nice, and music is very fitting!

Three Sigils by galactical 2024-04-19T17:56:36Z

I didn't catch the connection to the theme, but this is still an outstanding puzzle game. I particularly enjoyed the sense of discovery in the very first levels when you're not sure what you're supposed to do, but the game still makes you figure it out, the sense of discovery is a difficult one to evoke. Congrats!

⌰⟒⏁⍜ (leto) by Sodoj 2024-04-20T11:26:10Z

I became much more proficient in Morse than I expected to become today.

41 4c 4c 20 59 4f 55 52 20 42 41 53 45 20 41 52 45 20 42 45 4c 4f 4e 47 20 54 4f 20 55 53 21 20 54 48 41 4e 4b 20 59 4f 55 20 46 4f 52 20 50 4c 41 59 49 4e 47 21

I'm a huge fan of rhythm games, and this one provides challenges that I'm not used to in this genre. Polyrhythms were tough! I wish there was a hardcore more that would reset every time you make a mistake, I'm willing to spend an hour fighting this thing to perfection.

Presentation, idea, choice of samples, everything is top-notch.

Thank you for this gem!

Familiar Quest by BalimaarTheBassFish 2024-04-19T19:11:27Z

You know, guys, I'm as pro-AI as they come: I understand it's a great tool, I understand its value for inspiration, search and brainstorming, concept generation, etc. Seeing as LD rules apparently allow the use of **any** tools to create assets (I think?) I'd also be ok with just using AI-generated assets directly in some cases, sure.

But using AI to generate *every* piece of art in the game, being completely quiet about it, silently accepting praise for art quality, mentioning art creation in the description ("our talented artist" and "when it came to creating art"), and not opting out from the Graphics voting category is just deceitful. Straight up disqualification material right here.

Not cool.

Familiar Quest by BalimaarTheBassFish 2024-04-19T20:52:28Z

@frank-gevaerts You did choose to go the "this is not AI and you're imagining it" route then. Well, that's a shame, but I don't really care nor do I need to prove anything.

I brought up disqualification, but I'm not "*calling*" for it, not about to flag your game or anything. We're all here to have fun and gain experience and play games. If you're ok accepting praise for something you didn't create, you do you, have fun. :)

Familiar Quest by BalimaarTheBassFish 2024-04-19T21:14:21Z

@frank-gevaerts Let's put it this way: a pixel artist sees and closely analyzes dozens of pixel art pieces every day, pixel for pixel. People in this line of work know what things look like. We also know what it looks like when good pixel art is created in a "quick and dirty" way when there's a time constraint or just a style choice like that.

And a lot of us have been playing around with AI to see what it's capable of. I, for one, have seen and generated tons of AI pixel art just for the fun of it, and there's a lot, and I mean *a lot* of telltale signs in the result each and every time. Things that a human would never ever do just because of the nature of the process — no matter if it's fast or slow and what style is being used. There are flags in colors, pixel sizes, subject matter and specific recognizable details, they are *abundant*.

I would hate to have even a 1% chance of accusing someone wrongly. But I'm terribly sorry, there's absolutely zero chance of that here. I have no desire to devalue your work, and a jam game is still a jam game — you made an entry and that's awesome.

But this is AI art.

Familiar Quest by BalimaarTheBassFish 2024-04-19T21:26:10Z

@frank-gevaerts Do you want me to go in-depth with this? Like, a full-blown investigation here in the comments, with examples, close-ups, diagrams? Come on.

When I wrote the first comment, I honestly just expected you guys to say something like "well, the rules don't forbid it".

You can always just ask your artist about it. Or ask for the opinion of other artists, for example. Or go to any image generator of your choice (Ideogram or Bing Image Creator for example) and try generating something like "Wizard's study, pixel art", there are a lot of ways to investigate it if you're interested. Saying "it's not AI because you're no one" is inconsequential :)

Also, I don't want this much drama about it. Nothing personal, I don't think anyone is a bad person for doing this or anything. It's just a bit weird to me is all.

Familiar Quest by BalimaarTheBassFish 2024-04-19T22:45:58Z

@frank-gevaerts "a combination of 3D paint, pixlr and gimp" or similar handwavy descriptions are a common way to try and claim AI art, but it's pretty funny to anyone who does art. No, no combination of available non-ai tools and techniques produces this result. Yes, even Pixelify, not by a longshot (although "dirty pixels" it produces might lead people to believe that's the answer). Naming 23 tools in the hopes that their accumulated artefacts will somehow make it plausible doesn't work, tools are not magic.

@bizzybee I'm very curious to see the process. As I said before, yes, we're having fun here, your game is cool, before leaving the first comment I played it and rated it and the rating was not even affected by this (except I left Graphics unrated). But I'm in turn baffled by this amount of resistance to something so simple. It's a bit sad, really.

Familiar Quest by BalimaarTheBassFish 2024-04-20T08:47:09Z

[edit] None of what I said in this comment before deleting it actually matters. Wrapping up here. Good luck, guys.

Familiar Quest by BalimaarTheBassFish 2024-04-20T09:14:45Z

@balimaarthebassfish Do tag me if there's proof of my mistake, I'll apologise of course.

Familiar Quest by BalimaarTheBassFish 2024-04-21T15:14:43Z

@frank-gevaerts All good! Yes, team-first is the right approach to have, completely understandable.

Summoner's Chess by Matt Ravenhall 2024-04-26T22:15:27Z

This was fun :D I like how the levels were designed (I think?) to make you try out summoning once you get to the level with the bishops. The idea feels flexible and deep enough for trying out some interesting twists, although balancing the difficulty might be a challenge. Great job!

Démon Puzzle Attack by Roroto Sic 2024-04-18T19:49:46Z

Pretty familiar mechanic, but awesome presentation and feel, very polished and pleasant game, loved it!

IWANT by CO5MONAUT 2024-04-19T17:23:17Z

I can tell something is supposed to be going on in this game. Something fascinating! But I don't think it's quite there yet. It looks great and the idea is very fresh, I'll look forward to that post-jam update! Good luck with this :)

SKELEMANCER by deadjolly 2024-04-20T22:09:29Z

I did it! This was a fun game.

...another day, another corpse...

I particularly liked the voice acting, little humorous touches, the overall mechanic wasn't very innovative but still felt fresh in this particular first-person view with fixed facing (at least I think it was fixed? The camera didn't seem to react to mouse, but it didn't stop me from having fun)

5/5, would play again

The Curse of PentaCastle by Lila Pause 2024-04-18T20:45:15Z

Ah, another gesture game, I'm enjoying this LD so much!

Your idea is pretty fresh! I think all the platforming and jumping is perhaps a little distracting because I certainly want to spend more time experimenting with spells than fighting the platforming. I like the thrill of getting a new spell and trying it out for the first time. Plus the fact that you can pre-draw a symbol and then run to a position and release it there to cast the spell.

Overall, this is very cool, thanks for the entry!

PolyMancer by MarkAis 2024-04-18T22:14:54Z

This. Is. Insane.

We're a little bit ashamed about how we handled tutorials and mechanics in our version of (almost) this mechanic. Yours is so crystal clear and so simple and elegant and juicy. The way simple shapes gradually get more features, start shooting at you, flock together, combine in different structures, then just as soon as you're comfortable a wild star appears and it's going on and on and on, just a party for my eyes and ears and my hand (holding a tablet pen because i"m a filthy cheater).

"Draw square to start" is genius.

I'll study this game for a while and learn from it. Thank you :)

POLLY by Spica 2024-04-16T14:08:50Z

This entry is looking insane! Would really really want to play it, but mac gaming strikes again (sob). Watched the video several times and scrubbed it frame by frame and I love everything I saw. Indeed, gesture recognition is a surprising sub-theme of this jam, it seems :D

SPELLBINDER by eugene-b 2024-04-20T22:39:49Z

I got the idea of the game, but playing it was really hard — there's too little time to collect elements, and most of that time is spent fighting the controls. And since your strength directly depends on diversity of the elements, it just means it depends on how much of the map you have covered. So really felt like fighting against the controls.

On the other hand, the art is incredible, this entry looks fantastic. The game was fast and didn't let me just stand in one spot and look at it, so I'd been making screenshots to peacefully look at them later :D Beautiful work, nice technique, fun creature designs!

The music and the overall mood came very well together, too. I can see this turning into a much more enjoyable experience with more polish!

666 by Matheus Leite 2024-04-17T00:36:30Z

99, Naintiiii naaaiinnnn. I was 1 (one) away from 100, I'm so disappointed (with myself)!

Ok, damn, this was incredible, thank you. From the moment I had to press 6 to start I knew how many Humour stars I was gonna give this, and then the other categories caught up in like 5 seconds. It's a blast.

First I thought I was gonna say the controls feel off and it's too "slippery", but soon I got used to it and got in the zone and it puts you in such an "intense zen" state. It all clicks once you finally stop looking at the button hints and just demolish those villagers like there's no tomorrow.

I just want a full game with more of this. More levels, more villagers, more demons. Maybe more different "spells": like, some are just button presses, some are button combos, use more buttons as the game progresses, make me remember my piano lessons, give me boss fights! (also, I want 12 more games in this franchise heheh)

(meanwhile my brain: *aaaasmodeus*... *luuuucifer*...)

Awesome entry!

Motivation by maxplusplus 2024-04-20T16:56:24Z

This felt pretty new! I've been clicking around randomly and I was almost certain the "todo" on the table didn't work because it was bugged and I was stuck, but then I accidentally clicked a word, and it made sense at once. This was a nice little moment. I like feeling lost and then suddenly finding the answer. :) Great entry!

bergs by burnttoastdev 2024-04-18T21:06:58Z

So freaking incredible, BERG.

Multi~~player~~berger maybe? BERG.

Number of stars: BERG, BERG, BERG, BERG, BERG.

Get Away Your Pitchforks from My Oak! by Hammerer 2024-04-20T20:22:39Z

I love the number of glyph-related games in this jam! This is a nice take on the theme, although it feels too indirect: nothing I do seems to affect the world in a meaningful way or present me with interesting decisions. I mostly just spam the spells and eventually die because they don't do what I want them to.

(But maybe I was just bad at it!)

The art is pretty nice, the groots attacking enemies with laser eyes is an unexpected touch, and of course the glyph drawing mechanic is nice, woul be even nicer after some UI polish to increase responsiveness.

Great job!

Devil On The Streets by Viirta 2024-04-20T12:58:47Z

Very difficult to understand how to play, but clicking everything semi-randomly did get me somewhere a few times :D Good thing there was a video to watch. I like the style and the mood here, and the idea is intriguing!

Slaymore by Joshua Miller-Pio 2024-04-24T13:49:53Z

The decision to put the furthest layer of the scene on the same parallax speed as the foreground messed with my eyes so much I could barely keep playing, my head just kept spinning like the camera kept flying around the character as I'm moving. That's probably my biggest problem with the game, I was so distracted by this I could barely see the rest; other folks in the comments seemingly didn't have this issue, that's curious :)

The platforming was a bit slippery, and I got the impression that my summons weren't keen on following me. I would summon them and they would follow me for a couple of steps and then just stop. Maybe that was by design, but felt counterintuitive. As a result I didn't use their help that much, and the effectiveness of the whole mechanic took a hit.

That said, incredible key art and in-game art style, really loved the look of it. The music is great, and so is the overall idea (on paper). Fun entry, I'd want to experience a more complete/polished version.

Succubi Slayer by Lonthy 2024-04-17T00:16:30Z

Even though, as you said, the game doesn't have a goal or a lose condition, I spent a bunch of time in it just running around and casting fireballs. The sound and the particles make it satisfying enough to wanna try things out.

This way of casting is actually pretty fun and I don't think I've seen this exact style before. I can imagine a game with different spells being cast by clicking/dragging in different ways, e.g. a simple click casts a fireball, a flick away from the character casts a lightning, a flick toward the character casts a heal, drawing a wall across character's FoV casts a shield there, etc. You wouldn't have to select spells from a menu or click buttons, you'd just "mind control" which spell you want. Might make a pretty sick input method!

Also, just exploring geometric effects in this thing is fun: my favorite is to draw an outward-pointing ">" and watch it "spread its wings" as it flies away :D

Overall, I enjoyed the entry. Congrats on your first Jam! Fun little activity, isn't it? The more jams you do, the more fun they become, so here's to more jams in the future :)

Eyes On-Myoji by Cloverplus1697 2024-04-20T21:56:09Z

It's an interesting idea on paper, I believe, but in practice it's pretty much solved by just grabbing the correct orb and holding it in the right spot until the hand appears, then letting go. The rest of stuff happening on the field feels pretty inconsequential. But this probably can be improved with some alterations, the core idea is there and it's intriguing!

Music, art and pacing come together nicely, it's a relaxing and enjoyable game, great job!

Beetle Era by icxon 2024-10-10T15:39:38Z

Ok, the pheromones idea is ingenious. Reminded me of this project by Lychee Game Labs (I removed the link to YT because it embedded a huge player right into my comment, but: ...watch?v=adXr4v0rEBo), a similar idea, both implementations are very cool and inspiring!

I'd like to have a quicker way to select attributes. Maybe something like a color selector with a 2d plane + a slider (x for power, y for agility, slider for vitality or something like that) so I can design my army more efficiently!

Overall a great entry with high replay value, I'm going right back to try and beat that double base level

TINY PACK by xk_the_name 2024-10-12T13:25:29Z

Damn, I can see myself sinking ridiculous amounts of time into this game. Simple to understand, great variety and even greater potential variety, perfectly spooky atmosphere, balatrification of yatzee is definitely a genre we need more of! I think I'll go back and do another playthrough, cheers.

a Tiny Working Day by Alexis Roca 2024-10-20T16:31:04Z

This is extremely cute and beautiful! Two of our LD entries (including the current one) explore a similar idea/mechanic, and I love how your approach is so similar and different at the same time. I love the feeling of flow you get when you get into the rhythm and start performing the actions without waiting for the prompts or reading them, feels extremely satisfying!

Head'quarters by YogurtTheHorse 2024-10-10T19:36:54Z

@naphe-candle-mme

answer1a.png

Baby Race by kuviman 2024-10-12T13:03:50Z

Had to go get my mouse from the forgotten dusty corner of my house that I keep it in, no regrets. This was fun!

A Bug's Wife by Aurailus 2024-10-10T15:17:43Z

Awesome presentation and sound, cute creatures and fun puzzle design, great all around. In other words, no, thank *you*!

Beetle Tower by Doot 2024-10-10T15:58:33Z

Incredible entry! Beautiful, polished and really fun. Converting enemies in a really fun mechanic. The player's dynamic avatar is very expressive!

I'd love to understand my sticker situation better, i.e. where are my new stickers and how long do I have to wait and why. Maybe give the player the extra balancing task of actually drawing the stickers by hand while the fight is unfolding? Would be fun to have to grab a marker and actually earn your new sticker by drawing it in the bottom bar. This way you could also choose which sticker you want to draw, and more valuable ones might be trickier or take longer to make. This would also prevent player from constantly grabbing enemies and just pushing them back or putting them in the way of projectiles because right now this tactic seems OP.

Awesome game, thanks!

DEVLIC`S ABSORPTION by Tugaryn 2025-04-10T21:02:48Z

This felt really close to being a full game! I got to the last castle, but my converter guys kept turning all my square thingies into hearts, and I couldn't deploy the last castle eater. But the mechanic, the theme, the presentation — everything was very satisfying and well done, thanks!